Never Leaving You
by Tomorrow's Hero
Summary: Unknown to Demio, Alken survived the assassination attempt and has been living on the world below, yearning to return to his big brother. One day, Alken receives the chance, but what will he find, and how will his brother respond to him? Epilogue to The Shining Seventh.


**Hello, everybody! Here's what you've all been waiting for - the epilogue to _The Shining Seventh_! As usual, Sonic the Hedgehog belongs to SEGA and Sonic Team. With that said, head out on your way, and enjoy!**

**Never Leaving You**

Once again, the room is dark and empty.

Its sole inhabitant, a tall, powerfully-built beast with red skin, lies asleep on the hard metal tiles, trapped within the fresh hell of tonight's nightmare. This is not nearly the first occurrence; every night when it sleeps it sees these terrifying images, a horror movie that he cannot turn off or leave. Every night he launches awake in a cold sweat, tormented by his visions, and then lays back down many hours later, despite knowing in his heart that sleep will not meet him again that night.

His nightmares are as varied and infinite as the clouds in the sky, lifelike in their terrible vividness. Some nights he dreams of the volcano he nearly burned alive in those many months ago, and swears that he can feel the lava burning him to the bone as he roars in pain to the void, devoid of anyone to hear him or to feel pity for his plight. Some nights he is surrounded by judging faces; every person he has ever met in his long lifetime jeering at him with pure scorn and hate written upon their faces as they speak terrible, vulgar things to him. All the while he lacks the power to even lift his head, let alone defend himself. He can only lay before them, head to the ground as though he is begging for forgiveness that he can never find in both the onlookers' words and their eyes.

Other nights he dreams of lying paralyzed as someone close to him, someone he loves very much, is torturing him; sometimes they beat him, sometimes they tear him apart with their bare hands, and even other times they drive a blade of pure ice into his heart, forcing the coldness of death into his body. They all say the same thing, over and over with no end:

_Why? _

In both his dreams and in reality, he has no answer.

But even these horrid fantasies are nothing next to the worst one. The first time he saw it he refused to sleep to days, dreading to his core the possibility that he might see it again. Even now he fears it, every night as he lies awake both hoping and not for the blessing of slumber.

What is the worst? It is the nightmare of-

_...clink...clink...clink..._

"...Demio?"

It is a soft voice, and yet it is more than sufficient to arouse him from his tormented rest. He does not look up to find the voice's recipient – he could never forget a single detail of this nightmare.

"Demio?" It speaks again, louder this time. Ultimately, he does turn, with all the reluctance in the world. The being is standing in the shadows, so seeing it would be difficult... if not for the white coat of fur it bears, pure as the rising sun, that appears to glow so that even the shadows cannot hide it. It is not a fearsome-looking being – in fact it is a very wonderful creature – and yet the sight of it fills him with sorrow and dread as infinite as the whole of outer space. The look of cautious hope and joyous disbelief on its only serves to deepen those feelings.

Slowly, he rises to his feet to face it head-on. The beast is not small in stature, but his massive body allows him to tower over it with ease. He has experienced this dream many times, so he knows what he must do, no matter how difficult it is.

And he knows that no matter how many times he faces it, it will never get any easier.

* * *

He stares up at the giant red beast standing before him, and it returns his gaze with a glare. Emotions and feelings that the smaller one cannot understand shine through its ironically dull eyes, and this frightens him. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect when he returned to Lost Hex to seek his brother, but so far the scenario does not closely match any one that he devised along the way here. He is walking through an unknown, potentially dangerous situation at this point.

Still, this is supposed to be a joyous occasion, and so the smaller one dons a great grin. After all, he has finally been reunited with his brother, the one he believed may very well be dead, after two long years. Admittedly, those two years were not entirely long, especially when compared to his already century-long life, but he is glad beyond measure that the one he loves is still in this world.

"Demio? It's me, Alken," The white one speaks with cautious excitement. "Remember? I'm your brother." The large red monster does not respond, so the white one tries a different approach. "I'm sorry, Demio. I'm so sorry I left you. I swear I didn't mean to, but..." He stops, voice breaking with emotion. He forces himself to continue. "They attacked me. They knocked me off Lost Hex. I still don't know how I survived, but I did. And now I'm here.

"Demio, you don't need to be alone anymore. Come with me," His voice changes into a more pleading tone now. "I've made wonderful friends on the surface world. It's beautiful down there. I know they'll accept you if you come back with me. I can show you how to become an Altheuman again – you won't have to live in hatred as a Zeti anymore.

"And we can be a family again. Even if it's just you and me, we'll still be together, for the rest of our lives. Come on, Demio. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

He pauses, tears poised to fall, waiting desperately for an answer the larger one refuses to provide him. The two of them just stare at each other for a while in a silent stalemate, each yearning for something from the other; the white one yearns for reconciliation, the red one for solitude.

The tableau holds for a while longer before the white one tries again. "Hey come on, Demio. Just say something already. Don't leave me hanging." His voice is thick with desperation, as if to twist the knife even further into the red one's flesh. It continues to stare down upon him with those empty eyes for a while longer before it finally decides to speak. And what it does speak is the absolute last thing the white one wished to hear.

"_Don't screw with me._"

The words are like a dropkick to the gut. The white one actually staggers back a bit, such was the power behind those words. He scarcely wants to believe that his brother had spoken those words, but needless to say he has no choice. Tears begin to drip from his eyes, but not from happiness as they were initially conceived. Heartbroken disbelief might be a better choice. The disbelief born of long-carried, gently nurtured hope being shattered before his eyes in such a purely cruel manner. And by someone he loves so purely, no less.

He stammers hopelessly for words that do not form themselves for him, and ultimately he can only rasp out a quiet, desperately disbelieving "what?"

"You think I'm some kind of idiot?" the red giant utters tonelessly. "I'm just supposed to accept that you're still alive after two years? That you're... I don't know, _normal_ again?" It shakes its head furiously. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This isn't real. It never was. Never was. Never will be."

Now the white one's despair is drowned out by sheer confusion. Not real? Of course this is real. And what's that 'never was?' What does that mean? Has this happened before? Does he... does he think this is just a dream? Has he seen this before? The white one is filled with pity for his brother. To have to live alone for two years, constantly dreaming about the brother he thought he'd lost, it was a wonder he was still going.

Still, he can tell that his brother was deeply damaged. He sees the eerily empty look in his brothers eyes, devoid of emotion and feeling. He can see the way Demio slumped over as he stood, crushed by an unseen, intangible weight. His brother had stood tall for one hundred years, and Alken was proud of that, but at last Demio had been pushed too far. Demio was broken, wholeheartedly broken.

And Alken knows that it is his job to put him back together. He walks toward his brother as slowly and gently as he can, trying to seem as though he poses no threat to his unstable brother. Demio widens his eyes in a horrified response and takes one minute step backward. It is a small action, but it sends another crack into Alken's already damaged heart. Still, Alken swallows his emotions and takes another small step forward. Demio whimpers in fear and steps back once more.

This continued for a while, until Demio took a step back only to find that he had backed into the wall. Looking down at the nonthreatening and yet so very terrifying young man before him, he shrank down to the floor in a hopeless attempt to disappear from sight. Alken, on the other hand, continued forward, determined to reach out to the brother that he believed was still alive deep within the beast before him.

Alken finally stopped short a foot or so from the transformed Demio, who even now was curled up in a softly crying ball trying in vain to keep what he saw as an undying nightmare from harming him. The white Altheuman stared down at his brother for a long time, watching him with a strange mix of sadness, pity, and hope, trying to decide how to best face his brother. At last he ultimately extended his arm – not with a harmful intent – but to place a gentle hand on his brother. If Demio believed that Alken just simply a bad dream, then Alken would prove him wrong, here and now!

"Demio... you've been through too much. I may not have always been around like I always wanted to, although to be fair that wasn't really _my_ fault," Alken chuckled a little bit before re-donning his serious face. "But I can tell you've been suffering for a long, long time. I'm sorry, Demio. Ever since I was little you've been protecting me, watching my back relentlessly. And yet, when you needed me around I was down below, hanging out with my new friends. They're actually really nice people. I'm sure if they knew the truth about you they'd be okay with you.

"But that's not the point," Alken shook his head and backpedaled. "The point is, I will never, never abandon you again. _Never. _I don't care if I'm lying on the floor, slowly bleeding out from my chest with all of the bones broken in my legs – I'll just crawlto your side, even if it takes everything I have. I'll gladly die as long as I'm with you. I swear it, Demio. So please, Gods _please, _come back to me, Demio."

Ever so slowly, Alken's hand drew closer and closer to his still-crying brother's arm, and with a final burst of strength, Alken gripped Demio's thick forearm.

Demio's reaction was immediate.

"**NO!**" A deep roar exploded from the bottom of Demio's lungs as he swung his arm out, striking Alken on the jaw and sending him flying all the way into the opposite wall, whereupon he slid painfully to the ground. Demio stood up furiously, all his prior fear evaporated. "You are NOT my brother! My brother... my brother is DEAD!" Alken painfully rose to his feet and watched nervously as Demio stomped toward him, practically brimming with anger. "It's not enough that I have to look like _this! _It's not enough that I have to live every wretched day knowing that it was all my fault, no! Every night – every gods-damned night – I have to see _you_, over and over again! And I have to remember, no matter how much it _hurts_, that I pulled you into all of this, and that I lost you, and that it was ALL – _MY – __**FAULT!**_"Demio roared the final word at an earsplitting volume as he towered like a mountain over the prone Alken. "So I will say this once, and only once!" Demio lashed downward and gripped Alken by the neck, pulling him up to eye level, and his eyes shone so intensely and furiously that even a sun would seem dim beside them.

"YOU – LEAVE – ME – _**ALONE!**_"

Silence prevailed for a good long while after that, as Demio continued to hold Alken in an iron grip and Alken continued to stare down Demio's furious glare. Alken was crushed; he'd dreamed for so long of seeing Demio again and bringing him back from the despair that he'd been drowning in for the past century, and what was coming of it? His own brother thought he was a figment of insanity, one that needed to be excised like a tumor. And Alken couldn't do a damn thing to change his mind.

Maybe... maybe there really was no way to make his brother see the truth. Maybe the whole idea was doomed from the start. But what was he supposed to do then? Say sorry and promise to never come back? That was what Demio wanted, after all. And he was so desperate for it that he would strangle his own brother on the off chance it would change something. Maybe it really was the only way to put Demio to rest. Just give up.

Alken was too woozy to keep his eyes open. Slowly they shuttered closed.

_Just give up..._

_ …_

_ …_

_ ...Alken..._

_ Alken...!_

_ ALKEN! _

_ His eyes opened, and he saw the ceiling. It wasn't familiar to him, so it took a little while to him to place it. It definitely wasn't a cave, or Tails' lab, or his house back on the world below. So by that logic it had to be-_

_ He inhaled sharply. No, it couldn't be. They'd been gone for over a century. There was no way their house could still be standing. _

_ And yet, miraculously it was. And he was lying in his bedroom, in the soft, comfy bed that he'd longed so long for. _

_ He was home. _

_ "Are you okay, Alken?" _

_ Alken frowned. That voice... it was familiar. He turned his head to the side to see-_

_ Demio. Brother. _

_ "Come on, talk to me!" _

_ But he was different now. Younger. Somewhere in his teens, as opposed to adulthood. _

_ But what did that mean? Alken tried to sit up, but Demio suddenly leaped up and shoved him back down. "What the hell are you doing?! You just broke your leg! You can't walk, you'll kill yourself!" _

_ Broke his... oh. _

_ Alken remembered now; once when he was younger, he and Demio had gone for a hike in the forest outside the city. Alken had tripped on a tree root and fallen pretty hard. The doctors had said it was a clean break, but he'd have to stay in bed for a few weeks, and it'd be a while before he could walk again. Now that he was focused, Alken could feel a softly burning pain in his left leg, the one he'd broken. _

_ So that was it. This wasn't real. It was just a memory. _

_ Well, at least he could play along._

_ "...Hey, Demio," Alken started slowly. He stopped briefly upon hearing his voice; it was higher than he was used to. Demio wasn't the only one who was younger here. "What happened?" _

_ "What do you mean, what happened?" Demio shouted. "You fell, broke your leg in half! Don't you remember?" Demio's eyes widened in horror. "Oh Gods, you do remember, right? You haven't messed anything up in there, right? Come on, what's the color of my fur?" _

_ "C-calm down, calm down," Alken responded quickly, waving his hands for emphasis. "I just needed to catch up a little. I'm fine, really." _

_ "Are you sure? You were out for a while. Do you need anything?" _

_ "I'm fine. You don't need to fret over me so much. I'm not worth that." _

_ Alken wasn't sure where that last part came from, but it caused Demio to freeze in place completely. _

_ "...What... what did you just say? You're not _worth _that?" _

_ "Well, yeah, I mean I'm just a k-" _

_ "Damnit, don't mess with me!" Demio exploded, leaping up and surging forward to face Alken head-on. "Don't you dare mess with me! You're COMPLETELY worth it! You're my little brother!" Demio suddenly went slack and slumped back into his seat. "Gods, you're my little brother. I'm supposed to protect you. You're not supposed to get hurt with me around. You're supposed to be okay..." He whimpered softly. "I'm sorry, Alken. I'm so, so, so sorry." _

_ And to the young Alken's shock, tears began to fall free from his brother's eyes, soaking into the carpeted floor. Demio was crying. _

_ Before too long Alken was crying also. He'd never seen his brother cry before, not once, and it scared him far more than any broken bone could. Demio wrapped his arms around his brother in an attempt at comfort, and the two of them just sat there, crying into each others' bodies. They couldn't speak, nor did they wish to. _

_ Finally their intertwined bodies parted as the last tears fell, and the two brothers stared each other in the eyes; Alken's were full of confusion and fear, Demio's of sadness and despair. _

_ Alken was the first to speak. "Demio, why are you so sad?" _

_ "Because I'm your brother," Demio whispered, placing a gentle hand on Alken's chest. "I'm your brother, and I let you get hurt. I'm supposed to protect you, not watch you get hurt." _

_ "But what does that have to do with anything?" _

_ At once the lingering sadness in Demio's eyes dimmed out, replaced by a complete seriousness. But not a harsh seriousness, rather a protective seriousness. In those eyes Alken could see no weakness or fear, only caring and resolve. In that gaze, Alken felt as though he was the only thing that mattered in this world, or any world. He felt safe and loved, as though no power in existence could bring harm upon him, and it was a truly wonderful feeling. _

_ "Alken, listen to me," Demio began, placing a hand on Alken's chin. "When Mom and Dad first brought you home from the hospital, and I got to see you lying down in your crib for your first night in this world, I loved you. Completely and wholeheartedly, I loved you. I swore then and there that from that moment on I would do everything in my power to keep you safe, whatever the cost. It's been years since then, and I still love you just as much as I did when I first got to see you. Hell, if anything I love you even _more. _And it doesn't matter how old either of us get, I still swear that I'll make the world burn if that's what it takes to protect you." _

_ Alken stared at his brother in shock. This was not a side of his brother that he knew. "But how can you say that? What about what happens to you?" _

_ "It doesn't matter what happens to me, only you," Demio responded. "Because I'm your older brother. That's why I came first; the older brother protects the younger brother. I'm the older brother, and you're the younger brother, so all I can do is protect you. There's nothing else that matters." _

_ The sheer power in Demio's voice was magnificent, and Alken felt more tears seep into his eyes. "Really?... Thanks, Demio." _

_ "Don't thank me, I'm just doing my job," Demio chuckled. "But always remember, Alken – even if you forget everything else I've told you, even if you forget _me,_ don't you ever forget this – it doesn't matter if I'm not with you, or if I'm even not alive. As long as you remember me, you will never have to be afraid of anything, because from this day forward I'll be your strength. Even when I'm long gone I swear that my memory will help you keep going. And wherever I am, I'll always be watching you, seeing you laugh, and cry, and have fun, and fall in love. I'm never leaving you, Alken. Never." _

_ Never. _

_ Never... _

_ ...Never... _

_ …_

_ …_

Slowly Alken could feel himself peel away from his memories and drift back to the land of the living. His vision was still murky, tinged with black from too little oxygen, but he could make out the monstrous form of his brother, still grasping him in his massive claws. Still consumed by desperation and hatred. Still trying to steal his life away.

But Alken could not – **would **not – allow that. Yes, he had doubted himself, had thought that he needed to abandon his brother to protect him. But even if it was only for a moment, it was an inexcusable offense. How could he give up on his brother when so long ago Demio had sworn to protect him? He couldn't, no matter how much pain it caused him.

No, he would never give up on Demio, the brother that he'd loved with all of his being for his century-long life. He would not abandon his brother to his isolated hell when he had already suffered it for so long. He would not forget about how much pain he had caused Demio – even now he still blamed himself for the events of the past century.

And would not die. Not here. Not now. Not at his own brother's hands.

Alken's arms snapped up and gripped Demio's thick wrists. In a flash, Alken called forth the light that he had borne for ages and squeezed with as much power as he could muster. Demio let out a great roar of pain and released his brother, who landed squarely on his feet upon the metal floors. Alken stood up straight, crackling with pure white energy as he stared down his monstrous brother, who tenderly massaged his wrists and stared at him with even greater fear. It carved yet another slit into Alken's heart, but he would not be swayed so easily. He knew what he had to do, even if it pained him to do so.

"You've been alone for so long... I'm sorry, Demio." Alken admitted sadly. "All this pain you've been through, I blame myself for it all. But I want to make it right. I think I really can. Let me start here, Demio. Let me start with you.

"I am no illusion, Demio. No hallucination, no figment of your imagination. Let me show you." Alken crouched low, like a predator waiting to spring upon its prey.

And then... he shot forward like a rocket at his brother. "Tell me, Demio... DOES THIS FEEL UNREAL TO YOU?!"

At that moment, Alken's fist reached its target. It was a perfect, hard blow to the stomach. The impact hurt madly, but adrenaline dulled the blow. If there had been any other way, Alken would have gladly taken it, but there was no other choice.

Alken punched his brother.

* * *

Nothing wakes a person faster than pain. And Demio knew immediately that the pain that burst through his muscles and bones was far, far too vivid to be a mere dream. The force of the punch was so great that even Demio's massive body could not remain on the ground, and without even realizing it he was flying backward through the air. His flight was brief, and soon he crashed back down upon the ground, sending another spurt of pain through his frame.

The Zeti groaned and lay still for a few minutes before slowly lifting himself into a sitting pose, and then into a crouch. His gaze returns swiftly to the smaller Altheuman before him. His brother, Alken, whom he'd believed to be dead for the past two years. He could still remember quite vividly the day Master Zik and the others strode solemnly into their home and told him that his brother, his last ray of light, had fallen off of Lost Hex to his death. The news tore a hole within him; an endless, pitch-black abyss that even now he could not bring himself to peer into for fear of being dragged in once more. And it was not long after that the scientist known as Doctor Eggman arrived with a... proposition of sorts. It was despicable, and his brother would have never approved of it, but Demio was not himself at the time; he was Zavok, the demon king, and the real Demio was trapped, drowning within his own heart.

And now, Alken had returned. And not as Zenta, the loathsome mask that Demio had forced upon him, but as Alken, in his true face, the one that Demio had yearned for ages to see and touch once more. Alken breathed audibly and cradled his right hand, the one he had used to attack Demio, but then turned his face toward his brother... and smiled a genuine, joyful smile.

And it was that smile that finally destroyed the dam that Demio had constructed within himself and allowed a flood of emotions to overtake him; shock that his brother was still alive, joy that he had returned, sadness (and possibly a little anger) that he had left him regardless of the circumstances, and finally the undeniable need to reach out to him, to take him in his arms and see that he was, in fact, the real Alken.

"Brother..." Demio's voice was no more than a choked whimper by that point, but it mattered little as he lurched forward with his arms stretched as wide as possible and watched his brother run to him. As the two of them met they each hurled their arms around the other, Alken around Demio's waist, and Demio around Alken's shoulders.

Alken was alive. He was back. And he was wonderfully, absolutely real.

Demio knew that Alken was crying as he could see his brother's shoulders heaving, hear the sobs muffled as Alken buried his face in Demio's torso. In truth Demio was crying also, an entire spectrum of emotions condensed into countless little tears that ran down his demonic face and dripped down onto his brother. Eventually the two siblings turned their heads to face each other, and another beautiful smile stretched across Alken's face. Seeing this, Demio could not help but smile himself.

"Alken," Demio murmured, voice husky with emotion. "Thank the Gods, Alken. Oh, thank the Gods you're alive. Thank the Gods you're here."

Alken broke free and beamed up at his brother. "My thoughts exactly, Demio. I'm sorry it's been so long. I wish I could've come back sooner."

Demio felt himself relax at those words. To know that Alken had been thinking about him these past years, that he had been trying to find a way to return to him, relieved him of a weight he didn't even know that he'd carried. And yet in the midst of his joy, one unanswered question slipped straight through.

"Alken, how... how did you become an Altheuman again?"

His little brother's eyes were gleaming bright now, gleaming with hope and fulfilled anticipation. "I let go, brother. I let go of all of the anger and hate and guilt that I'd been feeling for the past one hundred years. That's the key. The curse traps us as long as we indulge in our hatred. So I let go, and then I changed, Demio. I broke the curse, and I became an Altheuman again. When the others found out they tried to kill me. They said that if you knew we could become again what we once were, then you wouldn't care about hurting anyone; you'd just want to change back. So they tried to kill me, but I survived.

"I had to survive, Demio. I had to came back here. I needed to show you what I'd discovered," Alken's eyes were misting over once again as he gripped one of his brother's large hands in both of his own. It nearly engulfed both of his hands, but he barely noticed. "You don't need to live in hate and regret anymore, Demio. You can be reborn, like I was. You can come live with me and my friends. I'll convince them that it wasn't your fault the world almost died. I can show what the surface world is like, it's wondrous. Please, Demio. It's been so long since I've seen you smile. I want to see you smile again, and be happy again, like the good old days."

"...Let go of my hate, huh?..." Demio pondered softly. Time passed as he stood in place, eyes closed, processing all that he had been told. One minute to two, two to four, four to ten, and so on. Neither he nor his brother dared to speak, not until Demio himself had reached a verdict. No matter how long it took.

Alken couldn't have spoken if he'd wished to. Countless ephemeral thoughts – more specters of thoughts than actual ideas – were rampaging through his psyche. Memories both fresh and ancient, potential scenarios all diverging from the ponderous choice that Demio was to make now, fear, hope, joy, nervousness, and other feelings and thoughts that Alken could never begin to classify, all of them whirling around and within each other, crossing paths, connecting and disconnecting, giving birth to new thoughts and ideas before fading away only to be reborn in no time whatsoever. His mind was filling with infinite possibilities and hopes, stretching its boundaries as far as they could go, and then even further.

Neither of them knew how long it had been since they had begun, but it was time. Demio had chosen.

Demio opened his menacing eyes once more and focused on Alken with iron concentration.

And then... he smiled.

And it was the saddest, most heart-rending smile Alken or likely anyone had ever seen.

And then Demio slowly shook his head from side to side.

"I'm sorry, Alken."

It was so simple, and yet those words were a knife to Alken's heart. It was literally as though he'd been stabbed yet again, and he could feel his chest start to ache where he'd been impaled two years ago. It hurt so goddamn badly, he couldn't even breathe. This was... his worst nightmare come to life. He could have managed if Demio had never believed he was real, at least then he could've said that he couldn't have done anything.

But this was different. He _had _gotten through to Demio. He'd gotten Demio to realize that he really was there. He'd said all that he'd dreamed of saying, leaving nothing back.

And yet it still wasn't enough. All of his hope and determination had added up to nothing. Yet again, he had reached out to hope, and yet again it disappeared before his eyes. It really was the ultimate despair.

He didn't cry; he was far too gone for that. Instead, he could only whimper out a pitiful "what?" Demio, on the other hand, did cry, tears spilling down his face as he continued to speak.

"Alken, I won't say I know how you feel. I won't even say I've known how you feel for, well, a long time now. Ever since we all came to this place I've barely even looked at you as you were, as Alken. I've only ever seen you as Zenta, a tool. I never-" Demio's voice cracked. "I never even bothered to think of you as my brother. To me all you were was a weapon, something to use to get back at whoever hurt me. I'm supposed to be your big brother, your protector, and I... I was horrible.

"But you never lost yourself. You never turned on me like I did to you. I promised I'd always protect you, and yet... now you're here trying to protect me." Demio sighed deeply and bowed his head, refusing to meet Alken's eyes any longer. "Alken, I don't doubt anything you've told me. I believe every word you've said about how the others all tried to kill you, and how you let go of all your hate and got rewarded for it. But... I can't do that."

Alken just stared at his brother, mouth moving silently as he tried to figure out the right words to respond with. His ultimate response was yet another disbelieving "what?"

"Because no matter how many people I let go of hating, I will never, _never _stop hating myself," Demio answered, still looking away, although it did nothing to hide his tears. "How could I, after all that I've done to you? After how I've treated you? It's beyond forgiveness. _I'm _beyond forgiveness. I just..." Demio's voice cracked, and he turned away from his brother. "Please, Alken. Just leave me."

"But it wasn't your fault!" Alken shouted desperately. "I followed you to the cove, and I led Mr. Ledale straight to you! It was my fault he found you, so it's my fault all this happened!"

"But I shouldn't have been there in the first place!" Demio roared. "It was wrong, and it hurt so many people, and yet I didn't do a thing to stop myself! At the very least... I could have talked to you, or anyone else, but I didn't. I kept it a secret, and look where it got us."

Alken thought about what Demio had just told him. He replayed the events leading up to the present day as he'd done so many times before. It didn't dredge up anything new, but it did make him think of a question to ask. "Demio, why did you even do all of this? Was it really necessary?" Alken's voice darkened. "Did _they _make you join them?"

Demio sighed and turned at last to face Alken once more. "...If I could say yes to all of that, Alken, then this would all be so much easier, wouldn't it?" He shook his large head. "But I can't. I've lied enough already.

"No, Alken. They didn't force me to do anything I didn't want to do. In fact, I'm the one who let them join. I was going solo for a while, but then a couple of them showed up and said they wanted in, then the other two came by a few weeks later. It was stupid, I know, but I was scared. I'd already committed enough wrongs, I thought they'd rat me out."

"But why did you even start channeling spirits in the first place?"

"...Because I was having kind of a rough time at work, and I needed some way to let it out," Demio replied, an ashamed look upon his face. "The truth is, I never even considered just talking to anyone about anything. Not you, not Dad, no one. I always felt like it was something I just had to handle on my own," He laughed humorlessly. "Such a little thing... and it caused all of this. I'm such a fool..."

Alken was silent. All this time, he'd never even considered how Demio might have been feeling about everything that had happened. To learn that he blamed himself so completely and irrevocably... was heartrending. It didn't matter what had happened in the past, Demio didn't deserve to feel this way.

And it was through that knowledge that something changed within Alken. His sorrow did not fully fade, yet he could feel it changing, reforging itself into something different. Something _strong_. He could feel his eyes narrow in determination and his blood begin pumping through his veins anew. With surprising vigor, he surged forward and wrapped his arms again around his shocked brother's torso.

"...I'm not going anywhere, Demio."

The Zeti stared down at his little brother in stunned silence. "What? Alken, _please..._"

"_No._" And with that one word, Alken pulled back and stared at his brother with steely eyes. "When we were little, you made me a promise. You said you'd never leave me, right? That you'd always watch over me and be my strength. I'd forgotten all about it until just recently, but then you reminded me of it. I should thank you for it too, because it's what gave me the strength to keep going.

"Well, now it's my turn. Since you're hurting so badly, I'm going to watch over you from now on. I'm going to be _your_ strength, just as you were and always will be mine. I swore to myself that I was going to return to my friends with my brother by my side, and I completely intend to do just that. I don't care if I have to stay here for one month, one year, or even longer. When I leave this place, it'll be with you by my side, as an Altheuman or as a Zeti, but until then I'm staying here, for as long as it takes. This time _I'm _never leaving _you_."

And he capped it by throwing his arms around his brother once again. The two stood frozen in that position for quite a while, neither one willing to break the scene. But eventually Demio did, slowly bringing up his arms and placing them tightly but gently around his brother. The one who survived and came back for him and swore to stay by his side, come what may.

Part of him still couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that his little brother, long thought to be dead, had not only survived but had found a way to regain his former shape (and such a simple way, at that!) It whispered into his mind thoughts of doubt and disbelief, told him to reject what was before him, that it wasn't real and that he was trapped within his worst nightmare yet.

But an even greater part of him rejected those doubts in turn. No, this could not be a dream. He would never believe that. He would shake off the rust and at last begin to walk forward once more. Perhaps tomorrow he would ask Alken for stories of the lower world, or go with him on a walk around Lost Hex, the paradise he once viewed as a prison. If he was alive, there was so much he needed to do.

Demio closed his eyes and dreamed at last of a better future.

**And that's that. **

**I actually have a couple ideas for a new story - a oneshot and a full-length series. Hopefully the oneshot won't take too long, but I'll need plenty of time to plan the series. Plus, I'm starting college in less than a month, so you may not see much from me for a while. Just be patient, because I don't intend to stop writing anytime soon. See you soon, and leave a review on your way out.**

**Tomorrow's Hero, signing out.**


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